Arrival *Edited*

Twilight was confused, she could've sworn that she saw him enter, yet now there was no sign of him. “Where did you go, Simon?” Twilight hollered, as searching through one of the piles in the room. After a minute of quietly listening for a response, Twilight heard a voice yelling for her.

“Twilight are you down here?” Twilight recognized it as Rainbow Dash’s voice, a tinge of disappointment at it not being who she’d hoped for..

“So sorry for intruding on you like this, but Spike said you were down here and we thought it best to take a look.” It was Rarity this time who decided to chime in, her voice echoing through the basement.

“I’m down here girls come quick,” Twilight yelled out this time from behind the door. She moved to the entrance to meet them. When she opened the door the rest of the way she found all of her friends waiting for her, varying looks of concern on each of their faces.

“What's wrong Twilight you look a little distressed,” Spike asked, zeroing in on Twilight’s downcast eyes..

“It's Simon, I don't know what happened. It sounded like he was in pain and now I can't find him.” Twilight was scared for her new friend.

“Now don’t start panicking on us Twilight. Just think for a second, Well, did he say anything before he disappeared,” Applejack asked as they all walked into Simon's lab. Twilight shook her head not wanting to mention how angry Simon was.

“He didn’t really say anything, though he was acting strange before stumbled into this room. Then I heard a couple of thumps and he screamed. By the time I came in here he was gone.” Twilight gave them a quick version of what happened, making sure to leave out the undesirable parts.

Rainbow Dash quickly took to the air. “Well, what are we waiting for, he has to be in here somewhere.” The group all nodded agreeing to help search, quickly splitting up and taking different sections of the room to search. A half an hour later, the group found themselves with little to show for their efforts.

Spike, in the middle of looking near the bookcases,noticed that some of the books had fallen over on the top shelf.

Spike climbed onto the bookcase to fix them when the whole thing shifted downwards slightly before jerking back upwards flinging Spike off. “Umm guys, I think there's something over here”. Twilight was the first to make it over followed shortly by everyone else.

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked looking over the bookcase not noticing anything different about it.

“Well, I was climbing the bookcase to see if there was anything on top of it when it moved all of a sudden.” Spike demonstrated his point by climbing on it again this time ready for it to move.

Twilight stared at the bookcase as it bounced. “Get down Spike, I wanna try something.” Spike quickly obliged and moved back behind Twilight, who quickly ignited her horn and encased the bookcase in her magical aura. Giving it a small push upwards, the entire bookcase slid up, creating an entryway.

Looking at the bottom of the bookcase Twilight noticed a small hook. “It's a latch, it must not have caught when Simon went through last.” Twilight looked back to all her friends but they were all staring past her with their mouths hanging open. “What is it?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy just pointed a hoof towards the entrance that just opened, Twilight turned her head to the opening her jaw dropped at the sight, inside was a room at least ten times in size. Cautiously, they entered the room, a short hallway connecting the two rooms with a door on either side that was hard to see without entering. In the very large room, there were large metal objects everywhere some were attached to the ceiling they all shared the same pulsating blue lines of life zigzagging across them that all of Simon's technology had. They seem to be transporting different objects around the room in some locations the floor itself seem to move moving more objects in certain areas.

“Wow, this like like something from Cloudsdale’s weather factory, only that there's no pony here.” Rainbow Dash spoke up as they all moved together into the room,looking around in awe.

Spike had stopped in the hallway, opening the door on the left side revealing several glass display cases each with a different object inside. Meanwhile, Twilight had found what appeared to be the start of all the movement in the room. It was a large holding area filled from the floor to the ceiling with objects of different sizes, shapes, colors, and materials. Claws from the ceiling over the container would shine a light down for a few seconds before they dipped down coming back up with a full claw. They would then move to another part of the container dropping everything.

Looking more closely at the strange contraption, Twilight figured the claws must have been intended to sort the piles into smaller piles.

Following the claw, it moved over to another large metal object dropping everything into what appeared to be a funnel at the top of it. Once the claw was empty the blue lines on the machine glowed brightly after thirty seconds its lines dimmed again, looking higher up Twilight could see a bright orange liquid streaming out into another object hanging from the ceiling.

While, Twilight was a good distance away from the strange object she could still feel a substantial amount of heat radiating off of it. Following this container, now full of the orange liquid, it moved towards another another structure and poured its contents into it. This new one was filled with lines that were constantly glowing, with an assortment of objects coming out onto one of the moving floors. After moving down the line these objects were being dumped into small bins that were whisked away through holes in the walls just big enough for the bin. Twilight wondered where they were going and was tempted to explore further when Spike’s voice got her attention.

“Umm guys we may have a problem.”

Twilight looked back and saw that Spike was now standing at the door near where they entered, and now saw now there was a flashing red light coming from inside.

The group quickly dashed over, looking inside and found a small room, with a large translucent glass tube in the center. Twilight recognized the holoprojectors in the room though without giving them a closer look she wouldn't know what kind of data they were displaying, at least it seemed they were the source of the red lights..

Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by Pinkie Pie gasping before anyone could ask her what was the matter she raced over to the translucent glass tube. Climbing up one side of it, she used it to get onto her back hooves, grabbing hold of a bar that was attached to the side of it and pulled as hard as she could. After a few tugs, it started to budge a little bit once the door opened a bit a black mass inside shifted slumping over into the door revealing Simon. His weight pushing the door the rest of the way over as his upper half landed on the floor with a thud. They all gasped running over to Simon Pinkie was already there poking and prodding him to no effect. They all surrounded him Applejack waved her hoof in front of him before lowering her head down near his face.

“Ah don't think he’s breathing.” Applejack worriedly looked around at all of them while Pinkie Pie started shaking Simon, shouting his name only to get no response.

“No No No No. “ Twilight repeated several times as tears formed in her eyes drawing the attention of all her friends “I can't have killed him.” She quickly ran over to one of the nearby holoprojectors, which thanks to her time with ace, she learned how to manipulate to an extent. Twilight quickly went through the information as fast as she could which wasn't very fast since she just started learning the translation a few nights ago.

Rarity calmly approached Twilight. “What do you mean you killed him.” Rarity put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder trying to reassure her, though it was clear by her tone she was also deeply concerned.

Twilight looked back to Rarity “I...I don't know how to explain it, he was doing something to help me learn his magic and...and….and I don't know,” Twilight was unsure of what it was that she even did. “I touched something and it was draining my magic so I broke the connection between us and that was when he started acting strange and this is all my fault.” Twilight was starting to get hysterical, looking ready to have a full on panic attack.

“Calm down Twilight no one is blaming you and right now you're the best chance that he has since you're the only one that knows his language.” Fluttershy spoke as she walked up to Twilight putting her hoof on her other shoulder. Twilight looked around as they all nodded in agreement. Twilight took a calming breath and, looked back to the holoprojector, she once again began filtering the words she knew on screen, though with far more focus than before.

Twilight was going through translating as fast as she could when a word seemed to jump out of her “ER..ROR” Twilight sounded out the word. She tapped the word the screen, suddenly changing it from blue to red along with adding a new word on the screen.

“Error Problem in Magic Suppression Chamber, Manual Restart Required on Internal Consol.” Twilight slowly sounding out all of the words, though only managing to understand maybe half the words meanings.

Twilight stepped away from the holoprojector. “I have an idea of what's going on here.” Twilight turned back to her friends, who remained standing gloomily, unsure of what else they could do to help. “Listen, Simon said that he is a deity, a creature that lives off of magic right?” The group nodded in agreement with her. “Well whatever happened caused him to absorb a bunch of magic off of me, which I think might be interfering with his systems. This thing we found him in is called a magic suppression...something, however, something else went wrong when he tried to use it. So we just need to get him inside and restart it.”

“But how do we do that.” Pinkie Pie asked, lacking her usual bubbly demeanor..

“Well, it mentioned something about inside, so my guess is that there's something inside that tube that will reactivate it.” Twilight quickly levitated Simon’s lifeless body and placed him in a sitting position inside the tube. Climbing in after him proved more difficult as there wasn't much room, but she managed somehow, even avoiding stepping on the poor man.

Looking around she found another holoprojector flashing red like the others. The moment Twilight touched it the screen stopped flashing as another big word appearing in the middle of it. “Restart.” Twilight recognized this word and quickly touched the screen before, Twilight turning to leave the chamber only for the door to slam shut. Naturally, Twilight tried to push it open, her friends all on the outside similarly trying to pry it open but to no success .

After five seconds a loud buzzer went off and Twilight was suddenly feeling very weak, falling onto Simon’s lap. Despite her mind telling herto panic her body couldn’t even find enough strength to muster a yell or twitch and it only got worse with each second.Her eyes were beginning to get heavy, to the point where she could no longer keep them open and eventually they started to close. The last thing Twilight remembered was her friends all yelling for her then suddenly everything went black.

When Twilight opened her eyes she was floating in a pitch black void. Now trapped, the weight of all that had happened came crashing down on Twilight, causing the normally confident pony to burst into tears.

“I was so stupid to think that I would be able to control his technology, I can barely even grasp how it works.” Twilight felt cold and numb the conversation she overheard between Pinkie and Simon at the party playing in her head over and over, like a demented record player, adding to her grief.

Twilight just couldn't figure out why she was so sad as she thought more and more, practically drowning in a sea of noise. However, the conversation and all other sounds ceased as she felt a gentle warmth on her cheek and a voice coming from nearby.

“Don't worry Twilight everything is going to be alright.” The voice was soft and vaguely familiar. Twilight opened her eyes looking to the side she was now laying down on Simon's lap he had a gentle smile on his face and one hand cupping her cheek as he used his thumb to gently wipe away her tears. “What are you crying for.”

Twilight sniffled a little bit, nuzzling into his hand and closing her eyes. “Because I feel terrible about accidentally hurting you.” Twilight moved her head with Simon’s hand for a little bit, not wanting to lose the warmth that it was providing. Twilight was afraid to open her eyes scared to see how upset he was with her hurting him, only to feel his hand on the other side of her face slowly forcing her to face towards him.

Only once Twilight head was completely turned towards Simon did she finally open her eyes. To her surprise, Simon still had the gentle smile on his face she’d come to know, looking as though he had all the compassion and patience in the world.

“Twilight,” He spoke softly as he reached up with one hand and started scratching behind her ears, which she had to admit that felt quite wonderful. “It's a good thing to feel bad after hurting a friend.”He stopped petting her and cupped the side of her face again “but we both know that's not the reason for the tears.”

Twilight quickly positioned herself as she wrapped her hooves around Simon in a hug and started crying again. “I was so scared I lost you.”

Simon wrapped his arms around her even as he leaned back to look her in the face. “And that makes you sad enough to cry?” His tone was questioning yet he still had that goofy smile of his on his face now.

Twilight giggled, feeling better in his embrace. “Well when we first met I really wanted as little to do with you as I could and when Celestia said you were going to be living with me I was pretty sure that you were going to be nothing but a pain.” Twilight paused taking a deep breath. “But after that first night when we had our little heart to heart and every day after I felt a bigger and bigger connection to you...I...I think I’m falling in love with you Simon.” Twilight paused again, expecting a response but Simon said nothing. “I have only known you for less than a week but I already feel like I don't think I could live my life without you, isn't that crazy?”

Simon shook his head. “No Twilight, the craziest thing that anypony could do is to hurt themselves by holding in their feelings.” Simon leaned his head in placing his forehead against Twilights. Twilight closed her eyes and made her move by pressing her lips to Simons. It was only a second before Simon returned her kiss as he did her whole body flooded with warmth. After holding the kiss for only five seconds Twilight had to break it the warmth turned into a heat inside of her followed shortly by uncomfortable pressure. Twilight was about to ask Simon what's going on when he spoke up first. “Don't worry Twilight, everything is going to be fine as long as you remain calm.” The pressure in her turned painful causing Twilight to open her eyes she was back in the glass tube.

The sudden shift threatened to overwhelm Twilight, as her friends all screamed around her. A gasp next to her cause her attention to shift, finding Simon right next to her, his eyes quickly locking onto her before he pulled her into a tight embrace. Everywhere Simon’s body made contact with Twilight's, she felt immediate relief from the pressure and quickly spread all over.

“Twilight, I need you to remain calm, everything will be okay, you are being bombarded with more magic than your body can handle right now but it will be over with soon.” Twilight nodded and leaned her head across his shoulder and nuzzled gently into his neck. It seemed like the more contact she had with Simon the less pressure she felt. How long she remained with him she wasn’t sure, yet even then she didn’t care. At the moment Twilight was appreciative of the fact the Simon couldn't see her face because she was sure that her face was as red as Big Mac’s. Before long there was another buzzer followed by a click and the door to the tube opened up. Twilight quickly looked away from the door trying to calm herself down still clinging to Simon. The door opened revealing all of Twilight’s friends looking in Simon picked a hand off of Twilight back and waved to them.

“Simon!” They all shouted in unison, Pinkie Pie jumping into the tube hugging both Twilight and Simon, with Simon using the walls to keep himself standing despite the additional weight. As Twilight quickly regained her bearings she noticed a faint shimmer coming off of Simon, though she chose not to question it for the moment.

“Well, ah’m glad that your breathing again but what in the heck happened in there?” Applejack moved aside allowing Simon to step out. He had an arm under each of the ponies wrapped around his neck.

Simon looked down at Applejack. “That is a good question, which I sadly can’t answer.” They all looked to Simon with some confusion.

Rainbow Dash flew up in front of Simon and eyed him suspiciously. “What, do you mean you won't tell us.”

Simon shook his head. “It's not that I don’t want to tell you, I just don’t know what happened.” Simon walked over to a nearby table and sitting down, trying to pry off the two clinging ponies.
“It’s alright you two, you can let go now.” Pinkie was quick to let go, while Twilight was more hesitant, fearing the pressure would return.

“You see the last thing I remember before waking up in the recovery chamber….” As he spoke he moved a tray of objects over to his side, quickly reaching to a rack under all the objects before pulling out and placing a pair of gloves on. Simon then grabbed a small flat stick from the tray and turned to Pinkie Pie.

“Say, ah.” Pinkie Pie opened her mouth without even hesitating. Simon used the stick to flatten out her tongue or moved her lips and cheeks around as he looked around inside. After a few seconds Simon threw the stick into a nearby garbage can before picking up a small metal object that fit into the palm of his hand.

“..Was helping Twilight with some magic,” Simon kept talking as he manipulated the object in his hand. There was a click and a light came out of one end they recognized it as a small flashlight, Pinkie Pie closed her mouth as Simon brought the light up to her face. “Look directly at me.” Pinkie again compiled without question as Simon moved the flashlight back and forth before placing it back on the tray and throwing out the gloves. . Simon picked up a lollipop from the tray and handed it to Pinkie Pie who quickly grabbed the candy and popped it into her mouth.

“Thank you for your help Pinkie you can hop down now.”

“No problem Simon.” Pinkie Pie happily jumped off the table sucking on the lollipop that Simon had given her. Simon turned back to his tray and grabbed another set of gloves and put them on and turned his attention to Twilight.

“Uh I don't mean to interrupt but what is it you are doing,” Rarity asked.

Simon picked up another flat stick and directed it to Twilight. “Twilight here was just irradiated with a metric crap ton of magic about three times greater than when your Princesses move the sun or the moon or about fifteen times what an average pony has.” Simon never turned his head from Twilight as he examined the inside of Twilights mouth. There was a collective gasp from around the room, aware that such an overabundance of magic could result in magical overload. “Don't worry I managed to absorb most of it from her.” Simon put the stick in the trash can and picked up another flashlight and aimed it towards her eyes.

“So what's with all the examining if you absorbed it all,” Twilight asked now that she was able to close her mouth,though she kept her head staring straight forward.

“Well, that's the thing, I didn't get it all. First off, after being nearly starved of all magic it triggered some sort of response inside of you where you became more receptive to the magic around you. Secondly, it also made you hold onto it most likely so that you wouldn't get drained again. Third and most important not only did I not get all of it because you’d be left with no magic in you , but the magic that you absorbed was specifically tuned to me.”

Twilight only partially understood what happened. “So, what happened in there?”

“I told you, you were bombarded with more magic than you could handle.” Simon didn't bother with looking away from Twilight's eyes as he examined them.

“No, I understand that, I mean before that when I passed out from feeling so weak,” Twilight asked curiously.

“Oh that, you see that chamber is meant to reset my magic, so the first thing it does is absorb about ninety-nine percent of my magic leaving just enough to survive.” Twilight knew it, it was her fault that Simon was there.

That knowledge made her want to change the subject. “You know, when I passed out I had this dream where I did something crazy.”

“Oh yeah, well you know sometimes dreams are extensions of something you actually want to do.” Simon had changed eyes now looking into her right eye.

Twilight blushed a little. “Oh, I don't know if I would really do something like that, it was pretty crazy.”

“I’m sure it wasn't that bad, though I guess the only thing I have ever considered crazy is for someone to hurt themselves by holding back how they really feel.” Twilight tensed at this because that was the exact thing he had told her in her dream, at least she was pretty sure it was a dream.

“Yes, darling I’m sure it wasn't that bad, go on tell us…” Rarity started to say but was interrupted by Simon putting down his flashlight after examining her eyes.

“You definitely have magic in there,” Simon said as he took a step away from Twilight.

Twilight was relieved at the change of subject. “How can you tell.” She gave Simon a confused look after a few seconds when the words he said finally registered in her head.

“Why don't you take a look yourself.” Simon smiled.

Wordlessly, he reached out to Twilight and she could see a spot of rippling magic hanging in the air a foot away from his hand, closer inspection revealed some light blue magic slowly forming a ring around the ripples. As Simon's hand got within an inch of the ripples the magic ring was fully formed and a black spot appeared. Simon reached inside and pulled his hand back out revealing a hand mirror which he held up in front of Twilight. At first, Twilight didn't notice anything different until she looked at her eyes, more specifically her right eye. Twilight's normally purple iris now had small intermittent patches of blue the same color of Simon's left eye.

“What, how long will it be like this.” Twilight was freaking out as she levitated the mirror,bringing it closer to her face.

“Honestly, I don't know.” Simon shrugged he was now writing in his research journal.

Twilight set the mirror down beside herself, yet it was obvious she wasn’t satisfied with his answer. “What do you mean you don't know?.”

“I mean I haven't seen anything like this myself, it could last until you use up the rest of my magic in your system or it could be permanent, I honestly don’t know.” Simon said as he quietly disposed of his gloves.

Twilight, took a moment to calm herself, before accepting his response, seeing little point in arguing. “Well, I guess it isn't so bad, it doesn't seem to impair my vision at least.” Twilight jumped down off the table, all of her friends quickly surrounded her to look at her eye. However, any conversation was halted by a growling that directed their eyes back to Simon.

Said individual chuckled, looking down at his stomach “I guess I’m hungry.” The girls chuckled at his alloff response, breaking any kind of tension that had been left.

”So, um, since everypony is alright, maybe we could go outside for a bit, maybe get some food together.” Fluttershy chimed in, though her voice stayed at it’s usual low pitch.

“I think that sounds like a wonderful Idea,” Twilight added with the others nodding in agreement and heading towards the exit. Simon let the group exit first before following suit, pulling down on the book case, allowing Twilight to see something move across his arm, runes eerily similar to those she’d seen before. Simon quickly pulled the bookcase down before stepping on the bottom with a click, Twilight seeing one of the books on the top shelf pull itself back in.

“So, mind explaining what all those strange objects in that room back there.” Applejack turned her head to Simon while pointing at the bookcase.

Simon smiled down to her. “That is a factory, it creates the parts that I need to assist in my job as a creator in my world.”

“Oooh, what kind of things do you make?” Pinkie Pie added on, her natural excitement still present.

“That's a bit hard to explain, truthfully I create a great many things, though most other deities have me supply them with all kinds of weapons and whatever other things they wish.”

There was a collective gasp. “You're making weapons?” Rainbow asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Simon shook his head. “Currently, no I am not, the last weapon order I received was about a month ago. Currently, I am simply using it to create things like the translation headsets you’re all using.” Simon motioned to all of them even Spike who had his own personal one.

“Isn't that a lot of parts for something as small as these headsets.” Rarity chimed in backing up her friend.

Simon nodded as they moved towards the exit. “Yes it is, though your headsets have several smaller parts, some of which are difficult to make, so I have that equipment in case I need to make replacement parts.”

Once they were all out of Simon's lab he closed the door and reached for the key before Twilight stopped him. “Why don't you just leave your lab there, I mean it probably takes a lot of magic to move it around so much and the door you used was just a storage closet with nothing important in it so it' should be fine”

Simon shrugged. “I suppose that’s okay, what's the worst thing that could happen?” The group nodded and made their way out of the library”.

On the way to a restaurant, a thought occurred to Fluttershy. “Wait doesn't Simon have special dietary needs, I don't know if we have a place that’ll work this far from the border to the Griffin Kingdom.”

They all turned to Simon who, again casually shrugged.“It’s fine, I won’t die if I got a few hours without them, it’s no problem.” With a nod, the group arrived at the restaurant, with the waitress only giving them a short pause to look at Simon before seating them. The group each looked over the menu, Simon only glanced at it for a few seconds before putting it down.

“Did you already decide.” Pinkie Pie asked, looking at him from the right curiously. Simon shook his head. “Then what's the matter then.”

Simon turned his head down in embarrassment.“I...still can't read your language very well yet.” This got Twilight to lift up her head from his left.

“Well, I can help you with that.” Twilight opened his menu with her magic and started pointing to items while speaking in Simon’s own language, much to her friends surprise that she could speak the language but not read it. When the waitress came back around they all gave her their orders including Simon who just repeated what Twilight told him to. After she left the group went about speaking casually, though Twilight noticed Simon wasn’t participating, though her attention quickly shifted when a large amount of magic formed a rune near Simon, to which he seemed to be manipulating with a few small, seemingly innocent gestures.

“What are you doing Simon.” Twilight interrupted causing the magic Simon was focusing to break.“Oh I’m sorry I didn't know you needed to focus.”

“No no, it's okay Twilight, I was just working on recreating my nutritional magic.” Simon smiled turning his head to Twilight.

“Nutritional Magic?” Rarity asked, joining in their conversation.

“Yes, it's magic formula that allows me to eat by detecting any loss of nutrition in my body and uses magic to replace it.” Simon looked between them. “Though it’s easier to make it with an external source of magic so that it doesn't break every time I lose concentration.”

“Well, why don't you just make some of that magic with that strange glove of yours?” Rarity asked causing Twilight to nod in agreement.

“The thing about that is this.” Simon reached out into a black spot, pulling back to reveal a glove in his hand, only to turn it over and reveal chunks of it were missing.“The magic in your world is wild, almost like it has a mind of its own and every time I have tried to use it, it breaks almost immediately, so I figured I would try other methods.”

The conversation was brought to a halt as the waitress arrived with their food and for a while they ate in relative silence, the girls having some trouble thinking of a topic to discuss.

Applejack however, decided to end the silence by clearing her throat and getting the groups attention.

“Simon, since this week is coming to a close, we need to decide who you’ll bunk with for the next week. Figure Rainbow atleast is a no go know unless you can figure out a way to walk on clouds.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I don’t know, it was pretty funny when the cloud walking charm Twilight cast on him wore off two hours early”

“It's not funny Rainbow, Simon could have been really hurt by that fall.” Twilight looked over at Simon. “Isn't that right?”

Simon had a straight face as he turned his head to Rainbow Dash. “That's right I could have been seriously…” Simon suddenly burst out laughing. “I’m sorry I couldn't keep a straight face at that it was hilarious did you see my face when it happened.” Simon tried to contort his face into one of shock and surprise. This caused Rainbow Dash to laugh with renewed vigor and Twilight to gave an annoyed look at Simon. “It's okay Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy swooped down and slowed my fall enough that I wasn't hurt.”

Applejack cleared her throat again turning attention back to her. “We’re getting off track here.” Rainbow Dash and Simon both stopped laughing and muttered their apologies. “So eliminating Rainbow Dash as an option that left the four of us.” Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all looked amongst each other.

“I don't see a problem with Simon just staying with me, I already submitted my findings to Celestia about how Simon's familiarity magic no longer affects anypony beyond the initial effect,” Twilight added on.

Applejack shook her head in the negative. “No can do Twilight, until we get a notice from the princess, we gotta stick to the original plan.” The rest of them nodded in agreement. Twilight looked to Simon hoping for some support but he simply shrugged, seeing little point in arguing.

“Well with harvest season coming up ah don't think ah have time to watch over Simon.”

“I would have Simon over but Mr. and Mrs. Cake said that we are too busy this week and they could really use my help with the orders.” Pinkie Pie added.

“I suppose if you are all busy I can have Simon come stay with me,” Fluttershy spoke up quietly.

“Oh don't worry about it darling I know you are kept pretty busy with all your animals so Simon will come stay with me for the next week.” Rarity interjected. “Though if you need a hand with harvest I’m sure that Simon here wouldn't mind assisting.” Rarity turned her head to Applejack who in turn looked to Simon who offered a smile and a nod “Then it is settled, gather your things Simon because tomorrow afternoon you will start living with me. This will give me a chance to pick clothing that is better suited to a gentlecolt like yourself.”

Simon let out a yawn in response, though Rarity didn’t seem to take any offense to the act, though it prompted Twilight to speak up.

“I think we should all head home and turn in soon, it’s been quite an eventful day and we should try to get an early start tomorrow.” Truthfully, Twilight just wanted to rush home as she had a plan and needed Simon asleep in order to achieve it.

“Sure thing darling.” Rarity said the rest of them nodded in agreement. They all paid their part of the bill except for Simon who had pulled out some paper, referring to it as money so they split his part.

Back at the library, Simon was climbing into bed when he looked over to Twilight who was about to leave the room. “Are you going to bed?”

Twilight looked back to him. “In a little bit, I have some reading to catch up on.” Simon shrugged before turning back and laying the rest of the way down. Twilight quietly made her way down the stairs into her lab and pulling out some specific equipment.

“There's no way that I am in love with Simon.” Twilight spoke to herself as she hooked the scanner cap she’d previously used on Pinkie to her head. By all accounts she viewed Simon as more like a member of her family and the data seemed to agree, yet it seemed off, even only slightly. “This must be some kind of magic, maybe it's a long term effect I didn’t notice.” Twilight disconnected herself from the cap and moved over to where she kept the refined magic that Simon had given her, sealed in a protective case.

However, as she approached it, it was clear something was wrong, feeling a shiver run down her spine. The more she looked at the case, the more she wanted to hold it close to her and never let go. Thankfully, Twilight quick shook those thoughts away and a new idea entered her head when she saw Simon’s door. In the hecticness of the day she had forgotten all about Ace and now she was going to put it to full use. Using her magic she pressed the button on her headset twice to activate Ace.

“Hello Twilight, would you like to continue your English lessons?” Ace spoke to Twilight.

“Hello, Ace and no not right now. I was wondering if you could help me in learning how Rune magic works.” Twilight waited for a response.

“I am sorry but you have to have a clearance level 4 to access that information.” Twilight was not expecting that response.

“Clearance?” Twilight asked.

“Yes Twilight when your user profile was created you were given a security level that affects what information that you have access to.” Ace replied.

Twilight figured this meant it was time for plan B. “Okay can you tell me what's in Simon’s research journals.”

There was a pause of silence before she was given a response. “I am afraid that I do not contain that data.”

Twilight cursed her bad luck. “I guess that means I’m doing this the hard way.” Twilight used her magic to levitate the first book off the shelf and opened it to the 1st page only to find something off about it. Beyond the text looking more like it came from some kind of press, she found it was in a completely different language and stranger still, was too elegant and polished to be Simon’s handwriting. She stared at the page for a little bit before a thought occurred to her. “Ace can you tell me what this page says.”

A light came from next to Twilight's head hitting the page she was looking at slowly sweeping across it. “This page reads, ‘This book is the property of Hedwig.’”

“Hedwig who is that,” Twilight asked out loud to herself.

“I am sorry but you require level 5 clearance to access that information.” Ace suddenly replied. This brought other questions to Twilight's mind, mainly why did this name warrant such a high-security level. More curious than ever, Twilight turned the page and found the remaining text was the same handwriting that was on the previous page, all in short passages with large gaps between them, and to Twilight’s annoyance, she still couldn’t understand anything on the page.

“Why can't I read any of this,” Twilight said in frustration only to shift to surprise when a light came out from next to her head, scanning both pages.

“You cannot read this because this is a language known as German, Simon's original language before he became a deity. If you would like I can translate the pages for you."

“Yes, please.” Twilight set the book down in front of her and laid down while she waited.

“Dear Diary, This is so stupid but my counselor said that writing out my feelings may help with my so called hallucinations. I figure I might as well so, I guess it started when I was little. For whatever reason, I have seen things I can't explain and no I’m not talking about ghosts or anything dumb like that, I just see weird waves of light, sometimes coming from the ground or in the air or sometimes coming off of people. It doesn't seem to hurt anyone or anything and everyone just harmlessly passes through it. I don’t know why only I can see this or even what I’m seeing, hopefully writing this down will atleast make me feel a little less crazy. The passage ends there”

Twilight listened as Ace read the passage to her. Twilight would question why Simon had the diary to someone else. “Dear Diary, the visions are getting worse, I’m starting to see shapes in them, almost as if it's trying to communicate with me. All the adults tell me that it's just stress because I start at a new school tomorrow but I really don’t think that’s the case after everything I’ve seen. I guess I can give it some time see if things return to normal. The passage ends there.”

Twilight waited for the next passage, but gave a quick yawn, the events of the day catching up to her, yet she pushed on regardless.

“Dear Diary, it's only been a week since I started at this new school but I’m excited. I think I might have found some people to help me prove that I’m not hallucinating. It started normally in class when a thick cloud of the light rose up from the ground and blocked my view of the board. This wasn’t all that odd, it’s happened before, but then, one of the boys in front of me started moving around in his desk like he was trying to look around it. At first, I thought maybe he was reacting to something else, but then he nudged the boy next to him who looked like he was sleeping. He sat up and held out his hand causing the first boy to grab it and direct it at the light. Once his hand was pointed at the light the entire cloud seemed to funnel down into his hand. I saw them hanging out together after class, other than their hair and clothing they look just like each other I think they might have been twins. I’m going to try and talk to them tomorrow though I might leave the strange light out of the conversation at least for now. The passage ends there.”

Twilight now felt more confused than ever, as the passages neither explained nor even mentioned Simon at all. Thus, her only option was to keep reading and hope for something to appear.

“Dear Diary, I am so frustrated with myself, I had the perfect moment to talk to the both of them today but by the time I got my courage up, one of the popular girls started talking to them and I just lost all my nerve after that. But I did learn that their names are Rolf and Zack.” Twilight was tempted to read further only to find herself pulled out by a voice.

“Twilight, are you down here?” She immediately recognized it as Simon’s voice and scrambled to pick up the diary and get out of Simon’s lab. Once out, she stashed the book under a piece of lab equipment just as Simon poked his head through the door. “There you are Twilight.” Simon moved down the stairs to where the purple pony was standing. “What are you doing down here.”

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle. “Oh, I was just down here doing some research when I fell asleep, hehe.” Twilight only told a half truth, chuckling further, hoping Simon would buy the lie.

“Well, we only have a short time before Rarity shows up so if you were going to study humans now might be the most convenient time.” Simon turned his attention to his door, which he was quick to shut and pulled on the key. As Twilight watched the door she noticed several Runes sprung out from around the door in straight lines as he turned the key, before it slowly faded and the runes followed suit.

Twilight, having been briefly shocked again by the magic, nodded at Simon’s suggestion. “Right, you go back upstairs, I’ll grab a research book and be up in a second.” Simon nodded, placing the key back in his pocket and headed upstairs. Once Simon was gone, Twilight grabbed the diary and moved it to her bookcase before grabbing her research journal and following Simon, finding him standing in the middle of the room.

“So where do we start?”

Simon shrugged. “Where ever you wanna start?”

Twilight thought a moment. “Well, since I don't have the drawing magic that you do how about we start with anatomy and I will ask you questions while drawing.”

Simon nodded “Sure.” He began removing his clothing, while Twilight opened her book and started levitating her quill and inkwell over when Simon spoke up.

“Here Twilight use this.” Twilight looked up in time to see Simon toss an object at her. Catching it in her magic, she brought it close to her face and recognized it as the strange quill that he used to sketch her. Twilight gave it a try moving the point to the paper and was immediately surprised by how smoothly it moved. Twilight nodded her thanks to Simon who was now standing in front of her with no clothing at all.

Twilight began drawing Simons figure, starting with his upper half and arms and slowly working her way down filling details as she went.

Twilight was a bit surprised when she had reached his groin, finally taking a moment to examine him. She expected a sheath similar to what the minotaurs had but instead found his penis was exposed to the open.

“Kinda small isn't it?” Twilight was more talking out loud than to Simon.

Simon chuckled. “Well, considering that a horse’s penis from my world on average is about a foot and a half long I’m sure my penis seems smaller in comparison but it does get bigger when erect.” Twilight chuckled on this, she hadn't meant to insult him but he seemed to be taking it light heartedly like most things.

“Oh really how much bigger does it get.” Twilight blushed a little bit as she started to detail it. Twilight was so occupied that she didn't notice the door open behind Simon revealing Rarity.

“Oh, my penis will get big enough to rock your world,” Simon spoke in a flirtatious tone. Twilight giggled after a week with Simon she was starting to get used to his flirty ways.

Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by a throat clearing that's when she noticed Rarity standing there. “Well now, I know why you wanted him to live with you longer. If you need more time I can come back later.” Rarity speaking cause Simon to turn around. Rarity immediately blushed and avoided looking at Simon.

Twilight blushed. “No Rarity, it's not what it looks like.” Twilight gave an angry look to Simon who only offered a mischievous smirk. “Are you cursed or something, this is the third pony this week that has walked in on us in a compromising position.”

Simon shrugged. “I know, it's weird.”

“Don't worry Rarity, there's nothing going on, I was just sketching Simon to help with my research of humans.” Twilight tried to explain what was happening.

“It's okay.” Rarity was still looking up and away from Simon, she was used to ponies not wearing clothing but she had only seen Simon with his clothes on, so it was a bit of different experience for her. “Anyways, I was hoping that we would be able to get a move on soon as I wish to be back home and have Simon settled in before Sweetie comes home from school, preferable with Simon fully dressed.”

Twilight nodded. “Sure thing Rarity, I just finished the sketch anyway.” Twilight took a glance at her finished piece and while it wasn’t perfect, it served her purpose, thus she levitated Simon’s strange quill back to him.

“No, you can keep it Twilight I have a bunch of them.” Simon waved the object off as Twilight brought it back to herself deciding to take it apart later to try and learn how it worked. Simon moved over to where his clothing was laying and got himself dressed.

Twilight looked over to Rarity. “I didn't know that Sweetie Belle was going to be with you, I figured you’d have the house to yourself this week.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, if only, my parent decided to go on another one of their trips and so while they are away she'll be staying with me.”

“Are you sure Sweetie is going to be okay with Simon?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yes, I told her this morning that he would be staying with us and she seemed rather excited about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was telling the exciting news to her friends right this moment.”Rarity laughed.

“Alright, I'm ready to head out.” Rarity looked to Simon when he spoke.

Simon was now properly dressed so Rarity didn't feel the need to look away from him anymore “Don't you have things to bring with you?” Rarity asked, looking confused.

“Yep, and I got them all right here in my pocket.” Simon patted the pocket that he placed the key in.

“Well, alright then, let's get going.” Rarity turned towards the door and started walking out Simon turned to Twilight and waved bye to her, which she returned though she couldn't shake the feeling of sadness as she watched him walk out that door. Twilight made her way sullenly up stairs, looking around her room yawning, still feeling tired from not sleeping that well before she spotted Simon’s bed.

“Oh, I guess Simon forgot his bed.” Twilight walked over to it hopping up onto it. “I’m sure Simon would mind me using it for now.” Twilight yawned again as she laid down and hugged the large pillow that Simon used to herself.

The walk to Rarity's boutique was done in mostly silence. Not only was Rarity having trouble coming up with a topic to talk about after that scene she witnessed at the library, but Simon also seemed to be counting something.

Once they reached Rarity’s house she opened the door allowing Simon in “Do come in and make yourself at home, I’ll show you the room that you will be staying in.” Rarity motioned for Simon to follow her to her spare room.“As you can see I don't use this space for anything, so for now please use this room for yourself though we will have to get you a bed for it.” Rarity turned to make her way out of the room.

“Don't worry about that Rarity I’ve got a bed I can use.” Rarity turned her head back to Simon confused as he had his eye’s closed in concentration. “Let's see, five point six miles east by northeast.” Simon seemed to be talking to himself as he turned on the spot. “And two degrees up.” he lifted his head only slightly. “You may want to take a few steps back.” Rarity nodded curious about what he was doing and took a couple steps back. Rarity saw a black spot open on her ceiling and quickly grew large to almost fit a carriage before stopping. Rarity could see four squares slowly sink out she could only guess that these were the legs of the bed, suddenly there was a surprised yell followed by a thump as the bed came crashing down. Rarity quickly looked around for who yelled until she spotted the disoriented form of Twilight spread out across the bed.

“Oh my, Twilight are you okay.” Rarity shouted running over to the side of the bed.

“Man Twilight, if you wanted to be in my bed that bad I wouldn’t have minded sharing.” Simon laughed. Twilight, however, didn’t seem to hear his joke, shaking her head and bringing her hooves together before rolling over so that she could stand back up.

Twilight looked around perplexed. “What happened?” Twilight looked down at the bed then up at the ceiling noticing one of Simon's black spot and quickly put two and two together.

Simon was about to tell her when another voice caught their attention. “Twilight are you okay.” they all looked up in time to see Spikes head pop out of the black spot.

“Yes, Spike I’m fine. A little shocked and weirded out, but fine,” Twilight said looking up at him.

“Are you sure cause I could come down.” Spike started to say but he stopped mid sentence as he burped, releasing a burst of green fire that formed into a scroll that bopped down onto Twilight's head. Spike chuckled sheepishly before pulling his back to the other side. Twilight, grumbling lightly at her brief moment of foolishness, levitating the scroll in front of herself and began reading it to herself.

“What does it say, darling,” Rarity asked, curiously.

“It's from the princesses, they want to see me right away,” Twilight said shocked.

“Well, that’s no problem, if we split up and fetch the girls, we could be ready within the hour.” Rarity turned to move out the door.

“Wait, no the letter said they wanted me alone, the rest of you are supposed to stay with Simon.” Twilight jumped off the bed, eyes still on the letter.

“Why would they ask for you alone?” Rarity questioned.

“They probably want to talk to me about how my research into Simon is coming along.” Twilight moved over to the entrance way. “I need to get back to the library and collect my notes before heading over.” She turned and looked back to Simon and Rarity. “It shouldn't take long, I'll probably be back by tomorrow so tell Spike to watch over the library.” Twilight turned back heading out the room.

Simon and Rarity joined her walking her out of the boutique and saw her off, leaving the two alone.

“Well that was a bit of excitement, though I must ask that you refrain from dropping things into my house like that, I’d would rather not have to pay for any damages.”

Simon nodded.“Sorry about that, I’m so used to moving things that way I tend to forget about the potential risks.

Rarity merely offered a smile as the pair took seats on her couch. “It's quite alright dear. Now, let's talk about your dreadful choice in clothing.”

A few hours later Sweetie Belle excitedly burst through the front door. “Rarity I'm home, also Applebloom and Scootaloo are here too.” She yelled out, her friends quickly following her in, though were met with no response. They started to wander about the house, only to stop when they heard a quick, pained yell. Quickly running to the room they heard it from, they practically barreled down the door, only to find Simon standing in front of Rarity, who was sticking pins into the clothing he was wearing, much to his discomfort as she again missed with the pin.

“Oh quit being such a big baby dear.” Rarity looked up at Simon's face slightly annoyed. Simon said something back but none of the three of them understood what it was. “Well, maybe I wouldn't be sticking you if you would hold still.” Rarity responded after a few seconds Simon spoke again causing Rarity to gasp. “Excuse me, suits are not stuffy, they are elegant and look dashing on anypony.”

“Hi, Rarity.” Sweetie Belle interrupted them entering the room.

“What are ya doin,” Applebloom asked coming in after her.

“And is it gonna take much longer, we want to play with Simon,” Scootaloo called from the doorway.

Rarity put her argument with Simon on hold to greet the fillies. “Oh, hello girls, I’m just trying to make a nice suit for Simon, though it would go faster if he would stop being such a crybaby.” Rarity shot Simon an annoyed look to which he again responded with something none of the fillies could understand. “Look, I’m almost done, just a couple more pins then you can go play.”

“How come we can't understand what he saying,” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah didn't he speak normally to us at the announcement,” Applebloom added.

“Oh, sorry girls, Simon doesn’t actually speak our language so her made these little devices so we could understand him.” Rarity used her magic to remove her headset and show it to the three fillies.

“Oh, I know what if we can get our cutie marks as translators.” Applebloom excitedly stepped up.

“Yeah.” Sweetie Belle agreed.

“Yeah, sure.” Scootaloo sarcastically said, “All we have to do is learn his language first.” Scootaloo looked to Simon. “Hey, how do you say boring in your language.” Simon smiled and turned to them saying something. “Yeah that, how about we just play something that he doesn't need to him to speak.” The three of them sat around thinking as Rarity finished up pinning for the alterations she was going to make. As Rarity took the suit off of Simon Applebloom suddenly shouted.

“I know we can play tag.” Applebloom hopped up onto her hooves and looked around excitedly soon to be joined by the other two.

“Hang on girls, did you even ask Simon if he wanted to play.” Rarity interrupted using her magic to give Simon back his normal clothing. The three fillies realized that Rarity was right they quickly ran up to Simon and gave him the biggest puppy eyes they could muster. Simon looked at them with a serious face for a short time before he let out a sigh and nodded.

“Yay.” All three of them cheered together. Sweetie opened the door while Applebloom and Scootaloo pushed Simons' legs with their heads.

“Come on, we can play at my family's farm, there's plenty of room,” Applebloom said as they practically rocketed out the door, only for Rarity to immediately hold them back with her magic.

“Oh now, I want you all to stay here at the boutique, Applebloom your family is busy with harvesting right now so don't bother them.” Rarity said, standing by the door, holding them until they all groaned in acknowledgement.

Satisfied, Rarity moved back to the table she was working at, taking one last look out the window. “Well that should keep them busy for a few hours and when they are done they’ll be so exhausted I’ll barely have to lift a hoof.” Without another word, Rarity immediately dove into her work, all but tuning herself out from the rest of the world.

The fashion pony continued on uninterrupted for several hours, before she put the finishing touches on Simon’s suit and took a moment to admire her work.“Ah, exquisite as always. Hopefully, Simon won’t be too exhausted from distracting my sister and her friends to try it on .” Rarity giggled to herself, knowing how much of a handful the Crusaders could be. The sound of a door opening signaled the groups return, prompting her to greet them. To her surprise, she found three exhausted fillies laying down on the floor, but no Simon. She was about to question the three when a rather pleasant smell from the kitchen told her all she needed, thus she turned back to the tired trio. “So girls how did your game go.”

The three of them slowly moved their heads to face Rarity. “ Simon won.” Sweetie Belle moaned out, her head dropping back to the floor.

“He was just so fast we couldn't catch him even when it turned into a three on one,” Applebloom added, not even bothering to lift her head.

“It was like he was in one spot one moment and in another the next.” Scootaloo yawned, looking about ready to pass out. “Hasn’t anypony ever told him that adults are supposed to let the kids win?”

Rarity giggled moving on to the kitchen sniffing the air whatever Simon was making, and just by the few whifs, it seemed quite good. “So I hear you won.”

Simon laughed and turned back. “Well, don't tell them but I cheated.” Simon reached into his pocket pulling out small silver disk before throwing one on the ground and suddenly another Simon appeared where it landed, leaving Rarity confused. “It's a hologram, a fake version of me.” Simon turned back to what he was cooking while the small silver disk disappearing into one of Simon's black spots.

“So what are you making.” Rarity walked up next to Simon looking over the counter to take a glimpse at his dish.

“You don't have to worry about, that just go set the table for you and the fillies, plus I don't know what it's called cause I pulled it from a cookbook at Twilight’s.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In an Unknown world

A small woman with long blonde hair approached a tall man and quietly kneeled before him, waiting for him to speak first. “Congratulations on your victory Erma, though I am not surprised with you being the rank three combatant.”

“Thank you my god, but if I may say, I am anxious to find out what the secret prize is.” Erma looked up at the tall man, remaining calm despite her internal excitement.

He chuckled. “Yes, well as you may have well noticed Simon has not been around for quite some time now.”

“Yes, I thought things seemed quieter than normal.” Erma chuckled at her own joke.

The tall man continued, barely acknowledging her remark. “The special reward is that you will head up a team to bring Simon back. Recruit carefully, as of now the portal is highly unstable so once we send you through you'll be stuck until we can open it again and we have no idea what exists on the other side. So be prepared for anything” Erma nodded as the tall man waved her away.

“Yes my god, I shall have a team together by the end of the day.” Erma stood and walked out of the room, leaving the tall man to smirk, eager to begin the operation.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ponyville

Twilight sighed loudly to herself, the last five days in Canterlot had been some of the longest she’d ever experienced. Apparently, Celestia wanted to ensure Simon’s magic hadn’t influenced her and determined that prolonged absence would be the best testing method. Making things more irritating was that Twilight didn't even have the diary to read, leaving her to practice Simon’s language instead, though she’d managed to become proficient enough to have short conversations with Ace, which provided a welcomed distraction. Regardless she was happy to finally be back in Ponyville and eager to talk with Simon again, practically smacking the door to Carousel Boutique in her excitement, which Rarity was quick to respond to.

“Oh Twilight, it’s good to have you back.” Rarity hugged her friend.

“Thanks, Rarity, believing me I’m happy to be back as well.” Twilight returned the hug. “So how has Simon been doing.”

Rarity smiled, though there was a hint of strain in her smile. “Things have been fine, for the most part, though there have been some shall we say, irritating, moments.” Rarity sighed, let her fake smile crumble. “Honestly dear, I don't know how you put up with his antics for a whole week.”

Twilight smiled. “I guess you could say it’s a learned skill. How about we go have lunch and catch up on everything he's done.” Twilight was about to turn around when she noticed something in the door frame. “What's that?” Twilight quickly levitated the item, which was apparently a letter and handed it over to Rarity.

“Hmm well, it doesn't seem to be addressed to anyone.” Rarity opened the letter, only to find the paper was blank. “Must be some kind of prank, probably one of Rainbow Dash’s.” Rarity threw the paper away before she stepped out.

“Simon, I’m going out with Twilight for lunch, please don't set any fires while I’m away.” She didn't wait for a response before closing the door and heading out. The duo quickly seated themselves at a cafe near the edge of town, where Rarity brought Twilight up to speed on prior events. Needless to say, she found his aversion to suits amusing, while also being moved by how well he handled the fillies. Granted she was also sad to hear that Simon tended to stay in his lab most of the time, only coming out to play with Sweetie on occasion. Of course, they broke into laughter when Rarity mentioned how Sweetie Belle accidentally started a fire while Simon was teaching her how to cook. Though the laughter was cut short when Rarity spotted someone in the distance.

“Is that Simon overthere?” Twilight turned and spotted what appeared to be a tall figure walking on two legs.

“It’s either Simon or a hornless Minotaur, not many other bipedal creatures here.” Twilight turned her head to Rarity and the two shared a look of curiosity. “How about we follow him.” Rarity nodded and the two of them got following some distance away from Simon. Thankfully for them, Simon seemed more focused on his destination and didn’t notice them, even as they crossed the gap between the edge of Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. As Simon made his way through the forest Twilight and Rarity noticed a lack of wildlife. Soon Simon came to a clearing and stopped he looked at a piece of paper in his hand before tossing it aside.

“Alright, I’m here,” Simon called out Twilight and Rarity looked at each other confused to who he was talking to. “Come on guys, I read your terms and I agreed to this ranked match.” Simon was once again met with silence as Twilight watched, figuring the blank paper was most likely from the strange letter she found this morning. Suddenly a strange shimmer formed and started moving around Simon, almost like a firefly, only stopping when he threw a punch that stopped mere centimeters from it. Simon smiled as he looked in the direction of his hand.

“Simon says, stop being invisible,” He shouted,jumping up and kicking both feet out in front of himself. As Simon's feet hit full extension part of the shimmering mass started to move away revealing two more humans, one of which was tall and currently holding Simon's forearm while the second was falling backward from Simons kick.

Simon looked at the human holding his arm. “Oh, I didn't know you were here too Kat.” Simon pulled himself upright, using the arm that was being held by the other human as a support.

“And I see you're a fucking idiot like always Simon.” The human, Kat, holding Simon’s arm practically shouted, with a distinctly higher pitched voice. Twilight had to translate for Rarity since this new human didn't have one of the translation headsets. Height wise they were taller than Simon by two full heads and had a long red mane that was darker than Simons fiery red. Kat quickly lifted Simon by his arm, leaving him dangling in the air.

Simon smiled at Kat now face to face with them. “If you give me a moment I can adjust my strategy to include you as well.” The other human smirked.

“Like hell, I would give you time for that.” They quickly turned to hold Simon over their shoulder and threw him across the clearing, slamming into a thick tree, nearly breaking it in half. Despite this, Simon was able to get to his feet and stare down his attacker, who was quick to kick him back down, sending him flying over head. Yet as he flew, he was able to summon one of his black holes beneath their feet, sending them falling, allowing Simon to get back on his feet. Twilight charged her horn preparing to charge in and assist Simon but Rarity stopped her.

“Twilight you know as well as I do that Simon is more than capable of defending himself and even so, we don’t know what kind of people we’re dealing with.” Rarity whispered to Twilight getting her to nod in agreement.

“You know, this was more fun when I was the one doing the hitting.” Simon spoke, “So how about we fix things.” He quickly reached into his black hole and pulled out two smooth sticks with a handle about a fourth of the way on each side. Simon quickly, charged at Kat swinging wide as she tried to stand, spinning the strange stick so that it extended forward and connected with the side of her head. Kat could barely stumble before she received a follow-up blow to the gut, sending her skidding, but still standing.

Growling angrily, Kat stood tall and stared Simon down. “Very well, if you want to fight with archaic weapons, I’m more than happy to accommodate you.”

Holding her hand out, another black spot opened, dropping a long metal staff, topped with a massive head of metal that embedded itself deep into the ground. Despite its size however, she easily pulled it free and pointed the head at Simon.

“My pocket space might not be as big as yours but I can use it to hold Ragnarok and that’s all I need to beat you.”

Without a word she charged, raising the head high before slamming it down, Simon sidestepping to avoid the blow, the ground shaking and shattering upon impact. Simon quickly took advantage of the opening and landed a few quick jabs before stepping back to avoid possible retaliation. Kat was unphased and swung her weapon horizontally as Simon quickly lowered his stance putting up both of his weapons in front of himself. The weapons collided with a loud ring as Simon slowly slid back some following the path that the weapon was following, managing to somehow hold his ground.

Twilight and Rarity watched, quickly realizing the pair were in a stalemate, both trying to overpower the other. However,there was a strain in Simon's voice as he struggled to hold his ground, letting out groan of pain before another human appeared behind him, stabbing a large dagger into his side.

This new human appeared to be as tall as Simon with a short black mane, though neither pony paid this much mind, shocked instead by Simon being stabbed, yet stranger still, he didn’t seem to care.

“Aw, Jack come on you know that really hurts.” Simon moved one hand off the hammer losing just a bit of ground before he grabbed onto Jack's arms, Twilight could see more magic suddenly moving from Jack into Simon. Simon then spun on the spot allowing the hammer to continue its descent, forcing the named Jack to jump back, pulling the knife free of Simon.

“Don't you know it's dangerous to lose track of an enemy.” Jack spoke, his voice much deeper than Simon’s, as he quickly faded from sight Simon took a step back the part of his shirt that covered the spot where he was stabbed only turned slightly red, while Jack’s voice rang out again.

“Then again, now there are two of us and it’s gonna cost you big time.”

Kat quickly charged again with another overhead swing, which Simon again dodged, only now he had to quickly move his head as Jack’s reappeared, lightly grazing Simon’s cheek before resealing itself. Simon tried kicking out in the direction that the knife came from but he didn't seem to hit anything. Jumping back quickly, Simon put himself up against a tree.

“Man, it's almost like you two want to kill me or something.” Simon joked before quickly moving to the side as a knife came flying towards him, striking the tree right where Simon's head was.

“Do you think a higher rank will get you more luck with the ladies? Cause I’m pretty sure you know the answer is no.” Simon quickly ducked as Kat swung Ragnarok, cleaving through the tree, sending the knife flying where it stopped mid air before disappearing again.

Honestly, despite his cavalier attitude towards everything, Simon was kept on the defensive and khe seemed to be fighting to stay alive. Still, his taunts were helping to throw them off their game, if only slightly.

“You know Kat if you spent just a bit more time practicing your defense you wouldn't need Jack to help you all the time.” Simon dropped to the ground as Kat swung wide over his head, before leaping to the side as Jack’s knife hit the ground where his leg was a moment earlier. “You do know this is a fight right that looked like a baseball swing and right now I’d say you are both striking out hard when it comes to hitting me.”

Kat practically roared in frustration while launching her next attack, bringing Ragnarok down next to Simon, having narrowly missed again before hiding behind a tree. Kat charged, cleaving the tree only for Simon's head to peek up from behind what was left. For a moment it seemed like Simon was vulnerable as the knife flew at him, both Rarity and Twilight were about to intervene when the knife simply passed through him, as though he wasn't physically there. Kat let out a roar of annoyance.

“Damn you Simon come out here and fight like a man.” Kat looked around in all directions trying to figure out where he went.

“But what if I don't wanna fight like a man.” Simon’s voice rang out but it seemed to be coming from all directions at once, Kat trying to find the location of the sound. As Kat drew close to the fallen part of the tree Simon rolled out tripping her and using the moment to hit her in the back with his weapon. “I’d rather fight like a mouse, you know as Jack does.” Simon laughed as a knife went flying by his head. A roar of anger came from Kat as she slammed her hands on the ground before staggering up. Grabbing Ragnarok she began swinging wildly while Simon stepped back, dodged blow after blow despite their ferocity.

After a few steps, there was a noise of a large mass hitting something. Jack reappeared as Ragnarok had caught him on the right shoulder sending him spinning into the air.

“Man, that was a great shot.” Simon clapped his hands sarcastically as Kat stood there briefly stunned, her eyes quickly snapping in fury at Simon.

“Whoa, don't pin this on me, that was all you're doing.” Kat didn’t seem to agree, blinded by anger and swung, Simon easily leaping over her and landing right behind her. Quickly turning, Kat was stunned to find Simon smiling and waving at her from only a few inches away, a loud snapping and crackling sound following.

Simon cheekily pointed up, prompting Kat’s eyes to follow and find that her last strike had all but cut another tree in half, only leaving enough to support its weight for a few seconds before it tipped over and headed right for her. Simon was able to easily leap away, while Kat found herself all but crushed underneath the trunk of the tree.

“Well now that you're going to be busy with that for a while let's remove Jack from the fight.” Simon walked over to the unconscious human kicking his blade away before grabbing the right arm that was attached to the shoulder that just got hit. Picking it up he placed his foot in Jack’s armpit and began pulling, a wave of magic moved across Simon’s body as Twilight and Rarity could only stare on in horror as the sound of bones snapping and breaking and flesh ripping followed by screaming echoed across the winds as Simon tore Jack’s arm clean off. Despite the horrific display, Simon seemed almost unaffected by the detached limb he had in his hand, casually tossing it aside, leaving Jack bleeding and unconscious from the pain.

Twilight turned to Rarity. “This is getting out of hoof, you get the girls and have Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia telling her what happened. I’ll stay here and keep Simon from doing anything more to that other human, Kat.” Rarity nodded in agreement wasting no time in taking off towards town. Twilight’s gaze quickly returned to Simon who’d redirected his attention to Kat.

“There we go, Kat, it's just you and me now.” Kat had finally freed themselves from the downed trunk and picked up her weapon. Simon took up a fighting stance once again wielding those strange sticks that he had been using.

Kat, now visibly tired and beyond furious, charged swinging her weapon, only now instead of dodging, Simon was deflecting each strike with his own weapons, while continuing to make snide comments. “You know Kat, if this is about picking up dates I can recommend a good makeup artist.”

Effectively at the end of her patience, lifted Ragnarok up and heaved it at Simon, who continued to smile as a black spot opened up, swallowing it.

Now free to attack, Simon quickly began attacking and swinging his weapons with furious abandon, forcing Kat back, until she found herself pinned against a tree. Behind him, Simon’s black spot opened, sending Ragnarok flying straight for the back of his head. However, Simon, with another smile, leaned forward, avoiding the blow and sending the hammer straight into Kat’s exposed face.

The massive head collided with a loud crunch, both from the tree bark and from Kat’s own skull. It strangely stayed in place for a few seconds before the weapon dropped to the ground finally breaking the head off, Kat slowly sliding down the trunk, a large indentation where she had been standing, whilst blood dripped from her forehead, shattered nose and mouth.

Simon looked over his handy work, and despite his previous joking demeanor he couldn’t help but frown at the sight of the battered humans, quietly checking Kat’s neck for a pulse. Thankfully there still was one, yet that did little to brighten his mood as he simply stared at the injured girl, only able to offer up two words in response.

“I’m sorry,”